Breaking down/swabbing my wooden flute

[eilam]

wooden base, maybe glue a large washer (6") on the bottom for weight, but any metal plate, and a wooden dowel.
if you have tools, say a router, you can trace the washer with a cutter with bearing, it will make a nice circle, but the base does not need to be a circle.
i think its a good idea to have a wood such as pine for the base, because it's softer the the flute and wont mare it, plus more porous and would suck the moister, if the base was a none porous material, the flute would stand in a mini pool, and the end grain of the flute would take in the moister

[crookedtune]

What does a flute stand look like? Any ideas on how one could make a simple one? It sounds like it'd need a heavy base to stay securely upright.

It's basically a board with a hole drilled into it, and a dowel stuck in. Pretty simple. Put it in a corner, where it won't get knocked over. I guess the consensus is that this works well for short-term use, but that you should break the flute down when you don't expect to be playing for the next day or so. Makes sense to me.

[azw]

Thanks, CrookedTune & Eilam. That sounds simple enough!

[Cork]

Let me say, that this is a wonderful thread, and that I have enjoyed all of your input.

The oboe has long been assigned the reference note, so, with such a responsibility, perhaps some measure of forebearance should be given to those who must be so attentive to detail, yet flutes simply are not the same instrument.

I thank all of you!

[jemtheflute]

The oboe has long been assigned the reference note

Indeed. I believe that particular orchestral usage evolved in part because the oboe is particularly awkward to get in tune, not least because the (notoriously cantankerous) reed has to be moistened up first etc. So the oboist gets sent off to warm up and tune up to the reference piano or tuning fork, then gives the A for everyone else. The penetrative power and stability of its tone once warmed up may also be significant.

perhaps some measure of forebearance should be given to those who must be so attentive to detail, yet flutes simply are not the same instrument.

Ideally, if our perceptions are sufficiently highly developed, (mine aren't!) we should all be as attentive to precise intonation, but you are right, flutes are very different from oboes in many ways. Interesting to note, though, that in the Baroque orchestra the oboist (a basic member) was often expected to double on flute (an optional extra). Of course, with the instruments of the time, the fingering was extremely similar. And both instruments, in any era either of design or music, are susceptible of significant variation of intonation by minute adjustment of embouchure, regardless of the set-up of the instrument itself.


Re: flute stands - several sensible basic design ideas already given. Also, have a look at commercially available stands designed for modern Boehm flutes (look in your local music store/web search/there are some interesting multi-instument ones on ebay at present for flute + piccolo). These would not be suitable as made due to too fat and short a spike for the bottom end of a conoid flute bore, but I'm sure they could be adapted, or at least the general designs copied. A heavy base can be avoided by using a tripod design. A fitting to clamp into an old microphone stand would be easy to do.

[Terry McGee]

I'd love to hear Terry McGee or Dave Copley or Casey or somebody chime in on this. They're the guys that get flutes back that have suffered.
Maybe they could tell us yay or nay.

Doc

Sorry Doc, asleep at the wheel at the moment.

Um yeah, I'm with the "pull it apart and mop it out every time" crowd. I've certainly seen flutes that have cracked because water has continued to be absorbed from moisture inside well after the player has quit playing (summer schools are dangerous times for flutes - you sit around playing all day and never get a chance to mop out). And I've certainly seen flutes that have gone all corrugated inside due to the grain rising. And I've seen flutes sat upon, knocked over, and trodden on, and even gnawed by the family dog because it had been left around. And a flute with smashed tenon because the player tried to shake it out and hit it on the leg of a chair. On my desk at the moment a pretty recorder with splits to head and body because it flew across the room after the owner tried to shake it out.

McGee-Flutes Aerosol Division have been working frantically on a product tentatively called "Mop-Out". Just one puff in the general direction of the dripping flute will be enough to suck every molecule of the dangerous Oxide of Hydrogen from the surface and every nook and cranny of your precious instrument. We're just working on one last hitch - none of the research assistants who have entered the test chamber to apply the prototype have so far returned. We did find a message scrawled on the lab floor - "50% water" - just near the tin and a pile of dust.

Which brings me to our "Positions Vacant" section ....

Terry

[cadancer]

McGee-Flutes Aerosol Division have been working frantically on a product tentatively called "Mop-Out".

You should have a parallel effort going with a "quick release, hinged stopper". Just flip it down and swab out the head joint. In that way it can be done quickly (and frequently) and it will completely keep the spit from oozing down into the body of the instrument.

Sorry... I've been playing end-blown flutes too long.



...john

[Cork]

...Which brings me to our "Positions Vacant" section ....

LOL

;-)

[jemtheflute]

Which brings me to our "Positions Vacant" section ....

That kinda invites a "dusty" answer! Or a brush-off. Still, there aren't too many suckers 'round yur!!!!!

[Cork]

Which brings me to our "Positions Vacant" section ....

That kinda invites a "dusty" answer! Or a brush-off. Still, there aren't too many suckers 'round yur!!!!!

Pun, for fun?

:-)

[clark]

You can swab well and leave it together... Flute Flag http://home.nethere.net/roger45/fluteflaga.htm

Flute stands also help to keep things safe. I've made a couple out of wood that hold about ten instruments (some flutes, some whistles) for at home. For gigs I made one that holds three flutes and three whistles that screws into a metal base (a small but heavy desk-top mic stand). Small and very secure and breaks down to fit in gig bag.

Clark

[jemtheflute]

Pun, for fun?

Nah...... It's deadly serious!

[Cork]

You can swab well and leave it together... Flute Flag http://home.nethere.net/roger45/fluteflaga.htm...

I have seen these, and am sure they do well with Boehm, cylinder bore, flutes, but can they work with a conical bore flute, such as an Irish flute?

My laziness is actually a studied art.

[jemtheflute]

Contrary to any previous impressions I may have given, I do actually swab my flutes out fairly regularly. I have always used a simple piece of 1/4" dowel and a piece of soft cotton e.g. old gents hanky or bit of pillow-case), or, more recently a piece of silk (ex silk shirt). I have never seen the point of those swab sticks with an eye in them - it is fiddly to thread the cloth through, and then you don't get cloth up into the closed end of the head joint, and the exposed end could scratch your flute's bore, especially if it is one of the metal rods. Those problems go for Boehm flutes too.
With a plain rod, you just fold a small corner of the cloth over the end of the rod, then wrap/twist the next bit of cloth around it, thus holding it in place (with a little downward tension) while you push it into the flute. For the head joint, you can push the first bit in, pull the rod out and double over the cloth and push another wadge in so that you fill up the space as you push it up to the stopper. In the body, the natural widening of the cloth around the rod will fit the conical bore well enough, if youa re attacking from the wider end. No point in having the cloth permanently attached to the rod like one of those flute flag things. A piece of plain dowel will not scratch the bore of the flute, and it can easily be marked with cork position indicators and be cut to a convenient length for your flute case too. A sure case where the plain, simple, low-tech solution is best.

Mind you, I once had a Rudall Carte Boehm flute that still had its original cocuswood rod with an eye (I didn't use the eye!) in the top end and a screwdriver in the butt end which was revealed by unscrewing the bottom part from a silver band in the middle. Lovely artefact, but it had to go with the flute when I parted with it.

[Whistlin'Dixie]

Also, I don't want to give the impression that I don't break down my flute! I only keep it together those particular mornings or afternoons when I am off work and home playing it for several stretches of time. Personally, I think that breaking it down is the best thing to do if one is leaving it for any length of time..

I just think that's the best practice, others can do what they want

M